Posts Tagged ‘Honda’

This year’s Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place is all about muscle. Automakers at the event this weekend are unveiling the most powerful, technologically advanced engines ever seen for street-legal vehicles.

Research continues on electric and hydrogen and hybrid technologies in Detroit and Palo Alto, but this year’s show, at a moment when gas prices hover around $2 a gallon, is focused squarely on horsepower. BMW, Acura and Mercedes-AMG are each showing off new cars with approximately 550 horsepower.

Cadillac will show off its CTS-V ultra sedan with an eight-speed transmission producing 640 horsepower in what is essentially a Corvette V-8 power plant.

The Nissan GT-R LM Nismo race car, with 600 horses, will be here on its way to competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Nismo street concept with a bit less muscle will be available for viewing, too.

The new Dodge SRT Charger Hellcat, which with 707 horses is being touted as the most powerful sedan ever built, may be the ultimate in muscle. (Visitors can get the feel of driving it by hopping into the Hellcat simulator positioned close to the real thing.)

The 2016 Cadillac CTS-V, with a 640 horsepower engine, is the most powerful in Cadillac’s history, allowing the car to reach a top speed of 200 mph. But it’s a rear-wheel drive, a liability in snowy Chicago winters. Figure on the car stickering at $70,000 and above.

The 2015 Bugatti Veyron.

If you missed it at last year’s show, don’t miss the French-made 2015 Bugatti Veyron 16.4, a mid-engined sports car that generates a whopping 1,001 horsepower from an 8-liter, 16-cylinder engine. It rolls from 0-to-60 miles per hour in an eye-blink of 2.5 seconds and cruises at a top speed reputed to approach 260 mph. It gets just 7 miles per gallon in city driving, but then anybody paying up $2 million or so for this ultimate road machine probably doesn’t much notice the current price of gas at the pump, much less pump his own.

The 2015 Buick Avenir

It’s not all about muscle, however:

The Buick Avenir, a rakish four-door with swooping lines and a boattail-styled rear, will remind some of the 1970s Riviera. Extras include an ionic air filtration system inside and an active fuel-management system that deactivates cylinders when not needed. The Avenir is not ready for production yet, but the 2016 Buick Cascada, the brand’s first convertible in 25 years, will be for sale this fall, probably at around $40,000.

Kurt Schiele, co-owner of BMW, Jaguar and Toyota dealerships in Elmhurst, is looking forward to the appearance of the Toyota FT-1 concept car, the brand’s first serious sports car since the late 1990s, when the Supra expired. Schiele says the silhouette of the car flies in the face of Toyota’s ordinarily conservative designs. “It’s crazy and radical but flows together smoothly,” he says. He expects it will eventually come into production with a price tag of $50,000 or less.

The 2016 Lincoln MKX has adaptive headlamps that curve with the road and a 360-degree camera to give maximum views.

An all-new 2016 Honda Pilot, which got its last update in 2009, will be shown for the first time with plenty of bells and whistles.

Aston Martin will show off the DB9 in a “carbon edition” that advertises less weight, while its latest V-12 engine generates 510 horsepower.

The 2016 Acura NSX is unique for that brand in that it was designed entirely by American engineers and will be built at the company’s Marysville, Ohio, plant. It will start at around $150,000, about the same as the new Ford GT, which is built to compete, performance-wise, with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The Honda FCV concept car runs on hydrogen fuel cells with a range of 300 miles on a single tank of compressed hydrogen (taking three minutes to refuel).

The Chicago Auto Show runs from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday through Feb. 21 and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Feb. 22. Admission is $12, $6 for seniors 62 and older and $6 for children aged 7 to 12 (free for children 6 and under).

More than 30,000 people a year still die on American roads, and while that toll has been steadily declining for a decade, it still represents a massive, unending tragedy. Around the world, those figures are climbing, as more people spend more time behind the wheel. Nothing drives advocates of tech such as driverless cars like the potential for sharply reducing the cost in human lives of driving.

Last week came a piece of good news in that fight: We are closer than we thought to cars that could prevent all their drivers from dying in a wreck. The bad news? There’s still decades of work ahead.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the research arm of the nation’s auto insurance companies, studied driver deaths between 2009 and 2012 for mass-market vehicles. (It did not examine passenger deaths due to unreliable data.) Overall, it found that new models with newer technology, especially stability control, had cut the overall death rate in vehicles by a third in the three years since it had last run the numbers. Had vehicle tech been frozen at 1985 levels, the IIHS estimates by 2012 an additional 7,700 people would have died in crashes.

Vehicle

Deaths per million registered vehicle years

Multi-vehicle crashes

Single-vehicle crashes

Rollovers

Audi A4 4WD

0

0

0

0

Honda Odyssey

0

0

0

0

Kia Sorento 2WD

0

0

0

0

Lexus RX 350 4WD

0

0

0

0

Mercedes-Benz GL-Class 4WD

0

0

0

0

Subaru Legacy 4WD

0

0

0

0

Toyota Highlander hybrid 4WD

0

0

0

0

Toyota Sequoia 4WD

0

0

0

0

Volvo XC90 4WD

0

0

0

0

Honda Pilot 4WD

2

0

2

0

Mercedes-Benz M-Class 4WD

3

3

0

0

Ford Crown Victoria

4

4

0

0

GMC Yukon 4WD

4

0

4

0

Acura TL 2WD

5

5

0

0

Chevrolet Equinox 2WD

5

3

2

0

Chevrolet Equinox 4WD

5

5

0

0

Ford Expedition 4WD

5

5

0

0

Ford Flex 2WD

5

0

5

0

Mazda CX-9 4WD

5

0

5

5

The IIHS calculates its death rate per years registered of a particular model; the industry average is 28 deaths per one million registered years for 2011 models in 2012; in 2008, the rate was 48. When it dug deeper, the IIHS found nine 2011 models that had no recorded deaths of drivers — the first time the group had found any such vehicles. Six of them were SUVs; overall, SUVs had the lowest death rates of any vehicle type, mostly due to the mandate of electronic stability controls and the physics of larger vehicles offering more protection from the forces of a crash than smaller ones. (Compared to 2004 models, SUVs from the 2011 model-year on have a rollover rate that’s 75 percent less.)

But the IIHS also gave out a warning that the gap betwen the best and the worst cars at preventing fatal crashes had widened. The rates in the IIHS study are corrected for demographics (young drivers who typically buy smaller vehicles tend to crash more frequently) but even after that adjustment, small cars dominate the most lethal list:

Vehicle

Deaths per million registered vehicle years

Multi-vehicle crashes

Single-vehicle crashes

Rollovers

Kia Rio

149

96

54

15

Nissan Versa sedan

130

44

87

51

Hyundai Accent

120

65

53

16

Chevrolet Aveo

99

65

31

10

Hyundai Accent

86

43

48

20

Chevrolet Camaro coupe

80

19

60

25

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew 4WD

79

40

36

17

Honda Civic

76

46

29

10

Nissan Versa hatchback

71

37

33

20

Ford Focus

70

55

13

5

Nissan Cube

66

38

29

6

Chevrolet HHR

61

34

25

9

Chevrolet Suburban 1500 2WD

60

31

28

9

Chevrolet Aveo

58

58

0

0

Mercury Grand Marquis

57

33

25

0

Jeep Patriot 2WD

57

44

9

3

Mazda 6

54

34

17

3

Dodge Nitro 2WD

51

7

50

40

Honda Civic

49

28

21

8

“The complete elimination of traffic deaths is still many decades away, and, along with vehicle improvements, getting there will require changes in road design and public policy that can help protect all road users,” said David Zuby, IIHS executive vice president and chief research officer.”Still, the rise in the number of vehicles with zero driver deaths shows what’s possible.”

The newest vehicles have gone well beyond stability control to include tricks like automatic emergency braking and radar-based cruise control to slow down the vehicle automatically in traffic. The safety benefits of those technologies have not yet been fully measured, but their real benefit may not become visible until they’re available outside luxury models — especially the small cars that still pose the greatest risk.

After a strong year for car and truck sales, automakers have a flood of new models in the works to woo buyers in 2015.

Here are some of the vehicles expected to debut over the next 12 months:

■ Acura NSX: Designed, developed and built in the USA, this all-wheel drive hybrid super car is the heart of Acura’s plan to become a leading luxury brand. The two-seat NSX will be one of the most eagerly watched introductions at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. While it will sell in small numbers, Honda engineers are throwing the kitchen sink at the NSX — including separate electric motors for each of the front wheels and a mid-engine gasoline-electric hybrid package — to reestablish Acura as a go-to brand for performance, technology and excitement.

■ Cadillac SRX: The SRX crossover was an immediate hit when Cadillac introduced it, but the handsome five-seater has grown old. Cadillac needs a new model with the latest features and improved fuel economy to cash in on the boom in luxury SUVs.

“Luxury crossovers are incredibly popular,” IHS Automotive senior analyst Stephanie Brinley said. “The SRX replacement is a chance for Cadillac to cash in on that and continue their run of excellent products.” The SRX replacement will have a new name as Caddy switches to names that combine letters and numerals, like BMW and Audi use.

■ Chevrolet Cruze: By far the best small car Chevrolet has built, the current Cruze’s features and fuel economy gave the brand its first legitimate competitor for the best from Japan, Korea and Germany.

GM puts such high stock on the Cruze that CEO Mary Barra, who was then in charge of product development, delayed the new car a year to make sure it didn’t repeat the mistakes of the botched redesign of the Malibu midsize sedan. The result: a roomier interior and other improvements in the sedan that goes on sale next fall.

■ Honda HR-V: Honda’s entry in the hot subcompact SUV market, the HR-V could win the brand new buyers, thanks to slick looks and one of the larger engines in the segment. “It’s going to get a lot of attention,” Brinley said. “We’ll be talking about small crossovers all year.”

Fuel economy, price and features will be key for the HR-V, whose competitors will include the Chevrolet Trax and Fiat 500X. The HR-V looks to have one of the roomier interiors in the pack.

■ Hyundai Tucson: Hyundai’s smaller SUV will grow slightly larger in 2015 to make room for — you guessed it — a future subcompact crossover. That will push it closer in size to the Santa Fe, potentially creating a traffic jam on Hyundai dealership floors.

“These vehicles are smash hits in the rest of the world,” Cars.com Detroit bureau chief Aaron Bragman said. Hyundai thinks a roomier interior and new looks could make the Tucson a hit with U.S. buyers.

■ Jaguar XE: Jaguar’s first compact sedan launches the British brand into direct competition with aggressive sport sedans like the BMW 3-series and Cadillac ATS. It’s a tough market, but success is vital to Jag’s global growth plan. An expected all-wheel drive model could help.

“Jaguar’s never had a viable candidate in this segment, but this one ticks all the right boxes” with contemporary looks and features, Bragman said.

The XE is one of the first tests of the Indian Tata Group’s ability to develop a luxury car without former Jag owner Ford’s help.

■ Jeep Renegade: Developed primarily for sale in Europe, China and other regions, the subcompact Renegade’s appeal in the U.S. is unknown, but Jeep could use an appealing entry-level model. A lot will depend on whether the Renegade delivers on Fiat Chrysler’s promise of serious off-road capability.

“It gives young buyers the classic Jeep looks and all the benefits of a Wrangler with a better price, higher fuel economy and more safety equipment,” Bragman said. “You’re going to see them all over college campuses.”

■ Lexus RX: Like the similar-sized Cadillac SRX, the RX is one of the older five-seat midsize luxury SUVs on the market. It’s also the best-seller in its segment, and the vehicle other automakers gear themselves up to compete with.

“The RX is the most popular luxury crossover in the U.S.,” Bragman said. “It’s the vehicle that made Lexus a volume brand.”

Expect advanced features and a luxurious interior to keep the competition on its toes.

■ Lincoln MKX: Ford’s luxury brand is basking in the warm response to the smaller MKC SUV it launched in 2014. The five-seat MKX needs to make a big impression to maintain that momentum and compete with the replacements for the SRX and RX.

“The MKX’s success is very important to Lincoln,” Brinley said.

Look for Lincoln to build on its strength making high-end interiors with the new MKX. The new Revel audio system will also debut on the MKX, which should be on sale this spring.

■ Mazda MX-5: Mazda might still exist without the affordable little roadster also known as the Miata, but its “Zoom-zoom” claims to be a brand for enthusiasts would ring hollow. The curvy new model boasts a 50/50 weight distribution for handling and a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

“The MX-5 is Mazda’s icon, the car that sets the stage for the rest of the brand and defines Mazda as a company,” Bragman said. “It impacts the whole company, every model in the lineup.”

■ Nissan Titan: Nissan was the first Japanese automaker to build a full-size pickup, but the Titan has never met sales targets. At one point, Nissan nearly quit Titan development all together to use a truck developed by Chrysler’s Ram division. When that deal fell apart, Nissan doubled down on the Titan, developing the 2016 Titan that will debut at January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The new Titan promises to be more capable, with a wider choice of models and a powerful and efficient 5.0-liter V8 diesel from Indiana-based Cummins Engine.

■ Toyota Tacoma: The midsize Tacoma pickup is one of Toyota’s core models, with as avid and loyal a following as the Camry or Corolla. The 2016 model debuting at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit faces unexpectedly strong competition from the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups.

“Toyota’s likely to remain the sales leader, but it’s possible they were caught a little off guard by the Colorado,” Brinley said. The strong likelihood that the Nissan Frontier midsize pickup expected later in the year will offer a V6 Cummins diesel adds to the 2016 Tacoma’s challenges.

■ Volvo XC90: The XC90 was one of the most popular European SUVs when it debuted, but it’s been on the market too long, with too few updates. Volvo product development slowed to a crawl when Ford sold the Swedish brand to a Chinese company during the Great Recession.

The company’s getting back on its feet, and the XC90 is key to winning back safety-conscious family buyers who are Volvo’s core audience.

“The interior is striking,” Bragman said. “They used some very creative materials and design themes. It’s a stunning place to sit.”

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) drivers were more likely than Porsche owners — or anyone else — to say they’d buy their cars again in this year’s edition of the closely watched Consumer Reports buyer survey.

Tesla’s Model S luxury electric sedan topped the U.S. survey a second year in a row, scoring 98 out of a possible 100, after posting a 99 last year. This year’s No. 2 brand, Porsche, scored an average of 87 out of 100 across its model lines. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla, co-founded and led by billionaire Elon Musk, said last month that it expects to sell 50,000 Model S cars next year.

“Not only is the Tesla roomy, comfortable, and a lot of fun to drive, but it also has low operating costs,” Consumer Reports said.

The survey may bolster the 11-year-old carmaker’s image as the leader in the business of making high-end electric cars. It comes about a year after U.S. regulators started a four-month investigation into fires that took place after Tesla’s cars struck road debris.

The investigation ended without a formal recall, giving Musk more room to expand sales of the Model S and develop the long-awaited Model X SUV, whose delivery Tesla postponed again last month. It’s now expected in the third quarter of 2015.

Tesla shares fell 1.6 percent to $227.79 at 10:20 a.m. in New York. The stock gained 54 percent this year through yesterday, outpacing the 11 percent rise in the Russell 1000 Index.

Sports Cars

The next three most satisfying vehicles in the Consumer Reports Survey, after the Model S, were sports cars: General Motors Co. (GM) ‘s Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, with a 95 percent satisfaction rating, and Volkswagen AG’s Porsche Cayman and Boxster, which tied for third with 91 percent of buyers saying they’d purchase them again.

The survey covered 350,000 vehicles from one to three years old and took into account “attributes such as styling, comfort, features, cargo space, fuel economy, maintenance and repair costs, overall value, and driving dynamics,” Consumer Reports said.

Everybody wants to own a keeper. A car that provides so much personal satisfaction that the years and miles can just fly by, while the enduring qualities of that daily driver remain picture perfect.

The hard part for most folks comes down to hype.

To sell more cars, manufacturers continue to promote short-term quality studies that have little or nothing to do with the long-term ownership experience. For example, J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study only covers the first 90 days of ownership, while its long-term survey tracks three-year-old vehicles over a short 12 month span.

In a market where the average car and truck is now over 11 years old, a long-term reliability study requires a much longer view of car ownership. For those of us who are looking to find a good used car, or even feel concerned about how a new car will hold up, we should be able to know the longevity of a vehicle for the entire life cycle instead of just a random early point in time.

This is why Nick Lariviere and myself have developed the Long-Term Quality Index. With over 550,000 data samples from all over the country, we have been able to look specifically at measuring the three key ingredients that tell you how well a given model has performed in today’s marketplace; mileage, age and condition.

To make this study fair and impartial, we have also taken two unique steps that represent a first for long-term reliability studies in the auto industry. The first is removing owner bias. Certain people will always recommend a car simply because that’s what they bought in the past and if something bad happens, they won’t tell you about it. Others are just oblivious to the thumping of a bad transmission, or the knocking of a bad motor. That is why we only have mechanics and skilled professionals appraise the vehicle’s condition.

Second, we focus exclusively on condition and longevity. Cars that are either 18 years or older, or have 180,000 or more miles, have endured well past the average life-span of the average vehicle.

In our study, we’re finding that only a chosen few can routinely achieve these two levels of longevity without a major mechanical defect. It’s this level of engineering excellence that we want to highlight in our study.

So what have we found so far? Some of what you might expect, but a lot of surprises.

The Over-300,000 Club Is Still Pretty Exclusive: Five types of vehicles make up more than 60% of the cars and trucks with at least 300,000 miles. They are:

By our calculations, these models are about 2.5 times more likely to hit 300,000 miles than any other vehicle.

One Nissan model is greater than all of Volkswagen:

We’re not talking about a mid-sized Altima, or the Sentra compact which has become the official taxi south of the border. The biggest surprise so far in the study has been the Nissan Maxima. Older models (2002 and earlier) with the 3-liter engine and four-speed automatic offer exceptional long-term reliability.

In the long-term reliability study, 1,038 Maximas out of 4,825 have gone over 180,000 miles (21%), versus only 785 Volkswagens out of 14,518 (5.4%)

Cadillac has VW levels of long-term reliability:

Both brands have abysmal long-term reliability with Cadillac scoring the same 5.4% as Volkswagen, which is less than half of the industry average. Head gasket issues for most years of the Northstar V-8 along with high maintenance costs make older Cadillacs a nadir when it comes to finding a long-term keeper.

How bad does it get for Cadillac? Well, here’s a shocker for you.

Cadillac Cars = Older Kias: If you removed the Cadillac Escalade, which is nothing more than a full-sized primped-up version of the less expensive Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, the Cadillac brand becomes a true bottom dweller. Kias that were made before Hyundai’s takeover of that brand show similar levels of long-term failure.

The Honda Accord Crushes Nearly All of Europe: Thanks in great part to the sound reliability of older Volvos, all European brands are barely able to beat the number of Accords that have been traded-in with over 180,000 miles. The Honda Accord‘s tally of 3,826 trade-ins with over 180,000 out of 12,398 nearly beats Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, VW, Volvo, Saab, Porsche, and BMW’s sub-brand MINI combined. These European models required a staggering 67,484 vehicles and an army of old Volvos to surpass the mileage tally of one popular Honda model.

British Roots Do Not Bear Reliable Fruit: You have about as much chance of dying from an injury this year as you do buying a Land Rover and a Jaguar with outstanding reliability. The chances of both vehicles combined lasting over 180,000 miles before getting kicked to the curb is an eye-popping 1,700:1.

The Accord and Camry Are Workhorses: Even with well-known transmission issues for certain six-cylinder Honda Accords, the two most popular mid-sized vehicles continue to be kept for far longer periods of time than their competition. The Accord and Camry have remained cars worth keeping with 28% of all Accords traded-in with over 180,000 miles, and 24% of all Toyota Camrys following suit. Both are more than twice the industry average of 11%.

Exceptional Reliability Is Still A Rare Thing: A lot of manufacturers have applied cost-cutting measures and decontenting methods to extremes. These engineering shortcuts often don’t reveal themselves until after the vehicle goes beyond 100,000 miles. However, there is still a very wide gulf that separates the market leaders from the market laggards as those miles and years add up.

The world’s seven largest automakers don’t seem spooked by the record level of recalls throughout the industry, and neither of the consumers. Cumulatively, auto sales surged 5.8% during the month of October, and on an annualized basis, global sales should reach or exceed 16 million cars for the eighth month in a row.

Growth rates at Jeep and Ram put Fiat Chrysler in a leading position, and Chevrolet and GMC both saw gains as well, though Cadillac served as an anchor and GM gained just 0.5% for the month. Nissan, Toyota, and Honda all saw meaningful gains, though Ford’s sales haltered.

“For Ford, the slow month was not unexpected. The company is currently undergoing some serious revamps to its production process as it gears up for the unleashing of the all-aluminum F-150 pickup truck,” Sam Becker from the Autos Cheat Sheet wrote. “General Motors, on the other hand, is still trying to claw its way back from an absolutely disastrous beginning to the year, in which the company was forced to recall millions of vehicles.”

As for the top 10 best-selling vehicles of the month, there were few surprises, but recent model updates and refreshes have done their part to boost growth for several vehicles. See how the top selling vehicles in the country faired in our ranking below, courtesy of Cars.com’s Kicking Tires blog.

An 11.6% decline in sales to 24,154 units versus the October from a year ago put the Honda Civic in tenth place, a few spots behind its usual 7th-5th place finishes. While other compacts have been renewed for 2015, the Civic is still riding its 2014 refresh, which seems to be losing its spark; sales for the year through October sit at 277,584, or 1.2% below the same 10 months of 2013.

9. Chevrolet Cruze

Though it’s very much the same car from 2014, Chevrolet made a few tweaks to its popular Cruze for the 2015 model year, and the results appear to have made quite a splash. Sales of the compact carleapt 51% over October of last year, and sales of the car for the year to date of 232,403 units puts the Cruze ahead of the same period last year by 9.7%.

8. Ford Escape

Despite little to no change for the 2015 model year, Ford’s popular crossover SUV got a 12% boost to 24,919 units for October, putting its year-to-date tally at 255,081 vehicles sold since January. This translates into a year-to-date gain of 1.8%, which is admirable for the Escape, which is starting to age against newer competition.

Toyota’s venerable Corolla seemed to get off to a slower start coming off its redesign for the 2014 model year, but it has kept up enough steam throughout the year to maintain its rank of 7th for October on a 5.6% gain, or 24,959 units. Overall, the venerable Corolla — which was one of the first cars to wear Toyota’s new design language — is up 10.3% on the year, to 283,764 cars.

6. Honda Accord

The Accord has been on a winning streak this year, occasionally outselling the consumer favorite Camry and at one point, even the Chevrolet Silverado for a second place finish in the monthly rankings. Sales in October tempered, however, to 27,128 units, which is still good for a solid 7.8% gain, and the car is up 7.9% on the year with 331,510 units moved.

With the 2015 model year refresh hitting dealerships about now, the Honda CR-V is seeing a reigniting of consumer interest. October sales spiked to 29.7%, or 29,257 units, to leave the popular crossover SUV up 7.4% on the year, at 270,272 models sold since January.

4. Toyota Camry

America’s favorite midsize sedan has gotten a healthy redesign for the 2015 model year, to help shed its beige personality with a sportier, bolder appearance. Now arriving at dealers, the new Camry saw October sales surge 13.8% to 33,164 cars, leaving its year-to-date sales up 5.7% at 368,142 units with two selling months left in the year.

Ram has been on fire this year, essentially from start to finish. That streak continued through October, as the brand sold 39,834 pickups, to seal a 33.5% spike over October’s sales from last year. This leaves Ram’s pickups — the 1500 line and the larger heavy duties as well — at 359,702 models sold since January, or a 22.9% leap over the same sales period of 2013.

After a disconcertingly slow start for Chevy’s updated line of pickups, the portfolio has thrown the salesthrottle open and sold 46,966 pickups in October, for a handsome 10.1% year-on-year gain over October of 2013. So far this year, Chevrolet has sold 429,119 of the bow tie-branded pickups, leaving the truck 6.4% in the green for the year so far.

1. Ford F-Series

As Ford readies to transition from the 2014 to 2015 model year F-Series pickups, the company has seen a dip in sales leading up to the awaited release — perhaps in anticipation. That streak continued through October with 63,410 units moved, or down 0.6% from October of 2013. To date, Ford has sold 620,447 trucks, which falls behind the first 10 months of last year by 0.5%.

Overwhelming. That was our first reaction as we began the task of choosing the best new car for our annual Yahoo Autos Car of the Year. The previous winners — the Tesla Model S in 2013, and the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in 2014 — had been drawn from a tight pack of favorites. The 2015 model year offered dozens of new models, yet not one had emerged as the front-runner by the time we assembled in California last month.

That would hold true as we winnowed our choices down to 17 vehicles and ran them through our most extensive battery of tests to date — with hundreds of miles of driving loops and countless sessions around our autocross course. We set loose at speed, opened and closed everything with a hinge and debated questions from the nature of transportation in the 21st century to seat-fabric stitching to whether 707 hp was too much or just enough.

When we ran our final poll, none of the editors chose the same top three models — yet only one car landed on most lists and topped a majority, proving itself worthy of our highest endorsement. For 2015, our Yahoo Autos Car of the Year honor belongs to the new Volkswagen Golf GTI.

As we have in years past, the editors at Yahoo Autos weighed five categories when making their choices: Performance, efficiency, value, design and engineering — not just how well individual pieces worked, but how they meshed as a whole. Because we were judging so many different types of vehicles, managing editor Justin Hyde offered what he called the Westminster Kennel Club rule: A car has to be among the best in its breed before it can compete for the top prize.

In that light, the GTI might seem like a dachshund winning Best in Show. The previous generations of the 40-year-old hot hatchback brand have built a fervent but limited fan base in the United States. “A lot of people who were attracted to the GTI over the years would walk away because it was too small, too expensive or too European for them,” said Hyde. “This 2015 edition should make them reconsider.”

Built from VW’s new MQB chassis — an attempt to make a Lego-like kit of parts to underpin almost any size and style of vehicle — the 2015 GTI has grown longer, lower and lighter; about two inches in overall length and wheelbase, about 80 lbs. fewer overall. On the inside, those extra inches have gone into cargo space; the GTI now has 22.8 cu. ft. behind the rear seats, more than our favorite compact car from 2014, the Mazda3.

Outside, the new dimensions and sharper bodywork make the GTI the most attractive model VW sells on these shores. Inside, the cabin and sightlines feel solid and Germanic in the best sense. The interior “brings Audi-level refinement,” said contributing editor Steve Siler. “I wish the styling had evolved a bit more, because no one will be able to tell how much better it is merely by looking.”

Power comes from the traditional 2-liter turbo four, boosted this year to 210 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque, paired with either a six-speed manual or six-speed, dual-clutch automatic with launch control.

But that’s not exactly what we drove. Instead, our tests of a four-door automatic GTI included what VW calls the Performance Pack — a set of upgrades that adds 10 hp, better brakes and a trick new style of limited-slip differential known as VAQ. Like its competitors such as the Ford Focus ST, the regular GTI has software that can lightly blip an individual front brake to even power delivery. The VAQ goes much further; it’s a set of electric clutches and software controls on the front driveshaft that anticipates what wheel needs more power. In the right moment, VAQ can send the engine’s entire grunt to one wheel, and add power when coming out of a turn to nearly eliminate understeer.

No other front-wheel-drive car in the world has this technology, and it’s the key innovation that defines the GTI and set it apart on our custom-built autocross route. You might assume, that, being front-wheel drive, the GTI would have a hard time navigating the tight, twisty course we constructed — the kind that makes such cars stumble into curve-destroying understeer.

Only it didn’t. The GTI managed a 44.9 second lap time in editor/racer Alex Lloyd’s hands, bumper to bumper with that of the Ford Mustang and not too far off the more powerful, rear-wheel-drive BMW M235i. The only hint of understeer came under hard acceleration from tighter turns. Trail-braking into a corner, the hot hatch is lively — the rear end dances on its toes. At corner apex, the slowest part of the turn, there’s a delightful pivot around the front axle that none of us have personally experienced before from a front-wheel drive machine.

The GTI also beat the 707-hp Challenger Hellcat on our autocross, by a decent margin. Admittedly, the big ol’ Hellcat isn’t at home on such a tight course, but it’s an able demonstration of the GTI’s prowess. The GTI’s time was a far cry from the 40.5-second fast lap set by the Camaro Z28, but then the Z28 was built to go fast around a track and little else.

The GTI, however, can ably serve as a Costco-to-schoolhouse shuttle. The rear seat of the GTI was more comfortable than some of the midsize cars we tested. The suspension lets you feel the road but not so much that you tire of driving around rough urban pavement. And, as we’ve seen, it can handle itself on track with more poise and dignity than expensive cars whose handing was their calling card. Did we mention it was faster than a Subaru WRX?

“Out on the streets, it’s composed with excellent road feedback that makes you feel connected,” said road test editor Aki Sugawara, “yet it’s still refined enough to pass as a luxury car.”

When we ran down our five categories, the Golf GTI shined in all of them. As equipped, our GTI was rated at 25 mpg city/33 mpg highway. Sticker price on our full-boat edition was $31,040, but the regular GTI starts around $24,000 for a two-door stick (with the traditional plaid-cloth seats), and the performance pack will list for $1,495 when it becomes available next month.

The GTI “constantly delivers more than you expect,” said Lloyd. “It’s a lovely cruiser, nippy and fun during city driving, and downright magnificent for a front-wheel drive machine on the autocross.” For all those reasons and more, we’re glad to welcome the Volkswagen Golf GTI into our garage of vehicles we’ve deemed worthy of being a Yahoo Autos Car of the Year.

Five other cars impressed us enough to earn their own individual accolades as the best new vehicles in the performance, enthusiast, luxury, value and green categories, and several others came close. Click the tiles below to see what cars prevailed, and which ones left us wanting more.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded the number of vehicles and manufacturers covered by a warning about air bags. Ten automakers and almost 8 million vehicles are covered.

The agency is urging owners to get air bags repaired due to the potential danger to drivers and passengers. NHTSA says inflator mechanisms in the air bags made by Takata Corp. can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed.

On Monday the agency included 4.7 million vehicles on a list. But Wednesday it added multiple models and removed about 133,000 older General Motors cars that were put on the list by mistake. NHTSA says the number of vehicles could still change because some may have been double-counted.

The agency is urging people in high-humidity areas such as Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii and “limited areas near the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana” to get their cars repaired quickly.

The safety agency urges owners to use their vehicle identification number on manufacturer sites to see if vehicles are have been recalled by the manufacturer.

Acura had high hopes for its newest gateway vehicle, the ILX compact sedan, which was introduced at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. The idea behind its creation seemed logical enough: by basing an Acura model on the Honda Civic, the automaker could lower the price of entry and attract a younger, hipper audience to the brand.

What the automaker didn’t count on was the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Audi entering the segment with compact sedans of their own, priced just a couple of grand higher than the ILX. Acura attempted to tempt buyers with a few sweeteners for 2014 but now a much more substantial update is coming.

Yes, Acura has confirmed that for the 2016 model year the ILX will receive some styling updates, a new powertrain and a substantially upgraded interior. Acura also released this teaser image of its 2016 ILX, which shows new graphics and clear lenses for the tail-lights.

The ILX currently offers the choice of 2.0- or 2.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines. A hybrid option was available at launch but dropped for the 2015 model year.

We’ll get our first look at the updated car at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show, which commences November 18.

BMW Group is recalling 1.6 million of its popular 3 Series vehicles, making it the latest global automaker to issue a massive recall based on concerns over safety.

Last month the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said seven automakers — BMW, Honda (HMC), Nissan (NSANF), Toyota (TM), Mazda (MZDAF), Chrysler andFord (F) – would be recalling vehicles to fix a possible safety defect in air bag inflators built by the Japanese firm, Takata.

Thousands of GM (GM) vehicles have also been recalled over similar Takata-built airbag problems.

The recall affects BMW cars manufactured between mid-1999 and mid-2006. The company said roughly 574,000 cars could be recalled in the U.S.

This follows a NHTSA investigation into six reports of airbag inflator ruptures that occurred in other vehicles, all of which happened in Florida and Puerto Rico. High levels of humidity are believed to contribute to the airbag problem. Over 7.9 million vehicles have been recalled globally due to the problem.

BMW said it had not received any reports about problems with its airbags.

Including an earlier announcement, BMW has now recalled about 1.8 million 3 Series vehicles over these airbag issues. Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda have also recalled millions of vehicles related to issues with the Takata-made airbag inflators.

Takata said last month it would work with the automakers to replace the problematic parts in Puerto Rico, Florida, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands — places that are known to have high humidity.